Disaster hits and leads to lineup scramble in Florida

The Florida Panthers are set to host the Buffalo Sabres later today and will have to do so without two star centres Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett. Per Cody Guy of Florida Hockey Now, both forwards listed as day-to-day going forward.

This terrible news however allowed the Panthers to insert Anthony Duclair, who will return from his Achilles injury. The forward has yet to play this season after suffering a torn Achilles tendon during summer training that required surgery.

In another roster move, the Panthers were forced to place Givani Smith on the team’s long-term injured reserve after having a procedure done on Thursday.

”He’s got a week of healing before he hits the ice, and then another week or two after that before he becomes a competitive player again,” head coach Paul Maurice explained per Jameson Olive.

Ahead of Friday night’s action, Florida sits just out of the playoff picture, tied in points with the Detroit Red Wings who managed to clinch the last wild-card spot in the Eastern conference following a surprise win over the New York Rangers last night.

The race is tight in the East and the Panthers will need the best lineup possible to make sure they can clinch a spot to compete in the postseason.

As of now, both Barkov and Bennett are hopeful for Florida’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. Duclair will hopefully be able to provide top offense this time around, like he did last season, netting a career-high 31 goals and 27 assists for 65 points in 74 games.

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